Bengaluru cleric: A motor mouth or al-Qaeda sympathiser?

Bengaluru, Jan 8: A loose cannon or loose mouth is how Maulana Anzarshah Qasmi the man arrested by the Delhi police for his alleged link to the al-Qaeda can be described as.

The Delhi police in a late night operation arrested Qasmi, a Maulana at Ilyasnagar, Bengaluru and took him on a transit remand. Along with him Jabbar, auto driver who used to ferry Qasmi around was also detained.

Looking at the case of the Delhi police, it appears that there is a connection to the arrest of another Maulvi from Cuttack. A Maulvi from Cuttack in Odisha had been arrested last month on the allegation that he was propagating on behalf of the al-Qaeda.

There were two subsequent arrests in Uttar Pradesh as well. The allegation of the Delhi police is that Qasmi was close to Mohammad Katki, the cleric arrested in Cuttack.

Loose mouth or al-Qaeda sympathiser:

The Delhi police say that they are still probing his links to the al-Qaeda. However those who know Qasmi say that he was a loose cannon.

He was a cleric at a Mosque in Banashankari and around 2 weeks back moved to Ilyasnagar. He was notorious for his fiery speeches.

In all the speeches he used to propagate the Sharia law. Many clerics in Bengaluru had termed him as cranky and also as a man who did not know when to keep quiet. He has been under the radar of the intelligence bureau for sometime now.

IB officials tell OneIndia that Qasmi was known to make fiery speeches and always aimed at provoking people.

Officials also say that his loose tongue had earned him a bad reputation. Many Imams in Bengaluru had even advised people to stay away from him. Further the Imams had also said that people should not pray along with Qasmi.